Most often as a basis for the laminate is used a perfectly flat concrete pad. But many users are faced with a situation where their old wooden floor is still in relatively good condition, but there is already a great desire to change it to a new more modern coating. Sear the normal living boards the soul hurts. In addition, pouring concrete is a time-consuming task, especially in a city apartment. So the question arises for the owners, is it possible to put a laminate on a wooden floor or such work is undesirable? It is necessary to seriously understand what "pitfalls" in the future may arise and how to avoid them.
Can I use wooden floors under the laminate?
The advantages of this quality coating are known to everyone, but the laminate also has weaknesses. The locking joint assumes an even and strong base. Its rigidity is a guarantee that the bars will not sag or play with walking. Whatever you say, a laminate is mainly made of pressed sawdust and paper, even if treated with glue and various impregnations. If the base is of poor quality, then eventually the bars will disperse to the sides, cracks will start to form on the floor, moisture and dirt will easily accumulate in them. All this will lead to damage to the expensive surface, which eventually eventually becomes unusable.
How to level a wooden floor under a laminate?
It should be thoroughly examined all the boards, necessarily replacing the rotten. Over the years, some of them may loosen, crack, creak, many nails protrude slightly above the surface. It is possible that it will be necessary to tear down some boards in order to fix badly fixed lags. Additionally, you can walk on top of a grinding machine or a plane, removing bugorochki or protruding knots. If you already see that you can not do without such an operation, then try to hide the nails beforehand inside, by cutting them into a tree for only a couple of extra millimeters. The recommended height difference for the substrate under the laminate is approximately 2 mm per 2 m surface. Large gaps have to be filled with putty. Do not forget to clean after the polishing has ended, so that the chipboard or other debris is not accidentally caught under the laminate.
If these procedures do not allow for a normal leveling of the surface, some builders on top of the wood settle the sheets of plywood (thickness not less than 15 mm), which are fixed with screws or nails. To prevent the appearance of fungi, walk on it with a layer of impregnation with fungicidal qualities. If you have to flatten the plane, then we use the laths. The sheets of plywood are stacked with offset. It is absolutely undesirable that the seams at us converge at any one point.
Laying the laminate on the wooden floor is not complete without a layer of polyethylene, which serves as a waterproofing, and some soundproofing substrate. It can be made of cork material,
We hope you understand that laying a laminate on an uneven wooden floor is a vain work, which in the future for the owner is threatened with an inevitable new expensive repair . But all the above listed activities will help to avoid possible ills. Serious diagnostics and simple repair work, can successfully use even ordinary boards as a good basis for laminate.